New Emergency Department Lead tasked with continuing to improve quality and access to emergency health care

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 3, 2017

London, ON – As part of the South West LHIN’s overall strategy to ensure patients are receiving timely, quality care in the right settings, Dr. Amit Shah has been named as the new Emergency Department Lead for the South West LHIN. Dr. Shah will be tasked with engaging other physician champions in developing strategies to enhance quality, reduce emergency department wait times and address capacity challenges, while ensuring the efficient and appropriate use of emergency resources.

Working alongside other physician leads and system partners, Dr. Shah will be responsible for assisting in making necessary patient access and flow improvements. In addition, Dr. Shah will monitor emergency department strategies like the implementation of the Emergency Department Pay-for-Results Program and the Knowledge Transfer Learning Collaborative. These programs are focused on developing improvement strategies and driving changes that improve performance and attract performance-based investment.

In addition to this local work, Dr. Shah will be providing advice at the provincial level as part of the Emergency Services Advisory Committee focused on reducing emergency department demand, improving performance, and supporting timely access to the most appropriate quality care.

Dr. Amit Shah has been practicing emergency medicine in Southwestern Ontario for the past twenty years. Currently, Dr. Shah is a staff emergency physician at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) and London Health Sciences Centre. He graduated from Western University as a Doctor of Medicine in 1994 and received an Emergency Medicine Fellowship in 1997 from the University of Ottawa. In 1997, he began his work as an emergency physician at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. Soon after in 1999, he started a five year term as Chief of Emergency Medicine at STEGH. Since 2001 he has served as the Emergency Department Alternative Funding Agreement Medical Director for STEGH. During his time working at STEGH, the hospital became a provincial leader in emergency department wait times.

Dr. Shah not only brings a wealth of leadership experience in emergency medicine, he also has extensive experience in research, serving as an Associate Professor at Western University and an Associate Scientist at the Lawson Health Research Institute.

“I am pleased that Dr. Shah will be joining the South West LHIN as our new Emergency Department Physician Lead. As an emergency medicine physician in both large and small emergency departments, including a leading hospital in provincial wait times, I know that his leadership and clinical skills will assist the LHIN in improving quality and access to emergency health care for patients and their families.”